By the time I reached school, it was already 8:20.

The first class was math. The teacher was a grumpy, balding old man with a shiny spot on his head.

Due to my usual work, I often stayed up late. So I’d inevitably doze off during lessons the next day.

Other teachers were lenient, but Baldy was strict and serious. You’d suspect he enjoyed picking on students.

“If you skip such useful knowledge, aren’t you an idiot? A bigger idiot than idiots!”

This was his catchphrase. He’d say it with a sneer—eyes full of contempt, laced with disdain and scorn. Classmates turned it into a viral meme.

I arrived halfway through class. The math teacher just frowned at me.

“Late for class? Don’t idiots even own watches? Stand outside for this lesson.”

One sentence branded me an idiot. I couldn’t argue back. Amidst laughter, I awkwardly stepped out.

I stood outside the whole period. The moment he left with his textbook, I rushed back in.

Just as I sat down, the class monitor approached. She carried a huge stack of homework.

“Zong Jun, finished the math homework? I need to submit it.”

The monitor was a bespectacled girl named Tian Yao. She stood about 160 cm tall, with an average build. Her looks were merely passable—calling her beautiful would be a lie. She was the type who vanished in a crowd.

Manga has that trope: plain girls with glasses become beauties when they remove them. But that only exists in 2D. Even if real life had such people, it wasn’t her.

Once, jokingly, I took her glasses off. She squinted and scolded, “Stop it! Give them back!” Honestly, she looked better with them—they made her eyes seem larger.

I scratched my head awkwardly. “Monitor, lend me your homework to copy. I forgot to do it.”

Truth was, I hadn’t forgotten. High school homework was endless. All the assignments combined could fetch a good price from scrap collectors. At home, I lacked time. I only did mandatory work, copying the rest at school.

“You really... try harder. At least finish the math teacher’s homework.”

She complained but handed me her notebook. “Last time, okay? Next time, no copying.”

“Yes, yes.”

She was kind-hearted. Whatever you asked, she’d do it well. Collecting homework was usually reps’ duty, but she handled it personally.

I rarely chatted with classmates. Qingteng High reshuffled classes yearly by grades. I had no energy to socialize. Many faces were nameless to me.

But I got along with the monitor. She felt reliable. Being with her was cozy, like sipping tea with grandma in a countryside yard.

As I copied the math test, she stood quietly beside me. Others would’ve nagged about the tight deadline.

But she was different. That’s why I liked her.

The break was only ten minutes. Copying the whole test was impossible. When the bell rang, I’d only finished the first big question. Three remained.

Tian Yao sighed. “I’ll submit it next class. Copy slowly during the lesson.”

“Won’t you get scolded?”

“It’s fine. I’ll collect it later.”

“Thanks, Monitor.”

She waved and carried the thick stack back to her seat.

Second period was homeroom with Ms. Li Shufang, our Chinese teacher. In her thirties, she still had charm. Many single teachers pursued her. Rumor said even seniors chased her.

Ms. Li knew my family situation and that I wrote novels. She shielded me from admin pressure, giving me leeway.

Thanks to her, I skipped evening study to work. She’d smoothed things with other teachers. They ignored my naps in class. I wasn’t aiming for college anyway. Though I felt bad dragging down the school’s admission rate.

Except Baldy. If I slept in his class, he’d ignore Ms. Li’s influence. He’d yell at me and send me outside.

During Chinese class, I finished copying the math test. I spread it aside, laid my head on the desk, and slept.

Yesterday’s doujinshi work kept me up till 3 AM. Waking at 6 AM for breakfast left me exhausted.

Deep asleep, I felt a pat on my back. Groggy, I opened my eyes to a fat face upside down—grinning wide with white teeth.

“Ah!!~ Brain! My brain trembles~ Sloth~ Zong Jun, you’re so slothful!”

“Holy crap, what the hell!”

I punched hard into his eye socket without thinking. My force left a bruise.

Well, I couldn’t be blamed. Imagine waking to a weirdo bent in a German suplex pose, his fat face inverted, groaning while spouting perverted lines from some anime ‘’. You’d punch too, right?

“Ah! It hurts!”

He crouched, clutching his eye and wailing. Suddenly, he stood sideways, sneering. “Zong Jun, that punch awakened the Black Flame Dragon in my left eye. Fear its soul-devouring hellfire burning you to ashes?”

So cringey. I wanted to vanish into the floor. But he flipped his hair coolly, giving me a confident look.